Dear Neighbor

A Note from Aaron Regunberg, Democratic Candidate for US Congress

Dear Neighbor,

My name is Aaron Regunberg, and I’m one of the (many, many!) candidates in September’s Democratic Primary to succeed David Cicilline. Such a large field of candidates can feel overwhelming and impersonal, so I wanted to write to introduce myself and share with you why I’m running for Congress.

As a state lawmaker and a community organizer, I brought people together to win real results for Rhode Islanders – like higher wages for workers, paid sick days for families, and new clean energy programs for our communities.

Then in 2018 I lost a close statewide election, so I took a step back. My wife Katie and I adopted a dog, and I started jogging again. I enrolled in law school to learn how we can use the courts to fight for justice, and helped build national climate coalitions to hold companies like Exxon and Chevron accountable. And two years ago our beautiful son, Asa, was born. As Katie commuted to her public defender job in Massachusetts, I held a sleeping baby on my shoulder while reading law books, writing legal briefs, and studying for the bar exam.

Becoming a dad has been one of the absolute best experiences of my life. But like many parents, I worry about the future. Will our kids be safe at school from guns and mass shootings? Will they breathe clean air? Will they be able to afford housing, health care, and college? These dangers don’t just worry me – they infuriate me. Because it’s not an accident that more kids die from guns in this country than any other. It’s not an accident that our climate is spiraling out of control. It’s not an accident that so many working families are struggling while corporate profits hit record highs.

Powerful special interests are creating and feeding these problems. But it doesn’t have to be this way. I know that, together, our communities can take on these dangerous forces – the gun industry, fossil fuel companies, Big Pharma, and their Republican allies – and win.

That’s why I’m running for Congress. And that’s what is at stake in this race: Will we simply elect just one more Democratic vote, or will we elect someone who can bring people together to take on special interests and win real change for our communities? In the last few weeks I’ve been endorsed by national and local leaders who trust me to do this critical work and who know we’re building the strongest campaign in this field. These endorsers include the Working Families Party, one of the leading progressive organizations in the country; Our Revolution, founded by Bernie Sanders after his 2016 campaign; Climate Action RI, the statewide affiliate of the international climate organization 350.org; and many leading local and state elected officials from all backgrounds.

I’m not naive – I understand that overcoming the forces arrayed against us won’t be easy. But I know it is possible, because we’ve done it here in Rhode Island.

I first got involved in politics helping public school students make their voices heard. Working alongside our youth, I created the nonprofit Providence Student Union that won healthier school lunches, more planning time for teachers, free bus transportation for thousands of kids, and much more.

Victories like these taught me that people-powered change is possible when we come together and demand it. I took that lesson with me when I was elected to the Rhode Island General Assembly.

As state representative, I led a fight in 2015 that won Rhode Island’s tipped workers their first pay raise in 20 years. By bringing working people together, we took on decades of corporate resistance to make it easier for moms and dads hustling tables and parking cars to make ends meet.

Working with countless volunteers and advocates, I helped win online voter registration and new community solar programs to expand renewable energy in every city and town. I worked to pass bills to prevent drug overdose, and received an “F” from the NRA for my work to get military-style weapons off our streets.

And in 2017, in one of the achievements I’m most proud of, I organized with workers and community advocates to pass paid sick days legislation. Back then, 40% of working Rhode Islanders had no paid sick time. When they got sick, they either went to work anyway or they lost a day’s pay. When their kids came down with something, they’d have to send them to school sick or fall behind on their bills.

People said we’d never win this fight – there were too many corporations and conservative lawmakers lined up against it. But we brought workers, small businesses, and unions together. We knocked on doors. I organized my legislative colleagues. We built a broad coalition, including people who didn’t always agree with me, knowing we had more in common than you might think at first. And together we got it done, so now more than 100,000 Rhode Islanders who previously had no paid sick time can take care of a loved one or recover from an illness without having to worry about losing pay.

Standing up for families is personal for me. My mother, Erica, was a single mom. My dad died in a plane crash when she was five months pregnant with me and my sister was two years old. Now that I’m a parent, I can’t imagine the strength it took for her to raise the two of us on her own.

But Rhode Islanders face challenges like these every day. And many don’t have the support we had – like life insurance, survivor’s benefits, and my grandparents, who moved in to help us in those tough early days.

So many of my values come from my grandparents. Grandpa Ralph was born in Germany in 1930 and became a refugee from the Nazis. He survived the Holocaust and came to America in 1948, but most of his family didn’t make it. Growing up hearing his stories instilled in me an understanding that our democracy can’t be taken for granted, and that standing up for vulnerable communities is a moral necessity. When Trump was elected, Grandpa Ralph took to the streets – at the age of 87 – which motivated me as I worked to help organize thousands of Rhode Islanders who were looking for ways to resist hate.

Though my grandma’s name was Bernice, everyone called her Bunny. But Grandma Bunny wasn’t soft and cuddly – she was a fighter. And she had to be, as Executive Director of her local Planned Parenthood in the years before Roe v. Wade. She taught me the importance of empowering families to make choices for themselves, and helped inspire me to become a community organizer. Grandma Bunny would be crushed to know that today we are still struggling to secure and defend the abortion rights that she and millions of women spent their lives fighting for.

But that, unfortunately, is where we are. Families are struggling with skyrocketing housing and healthcare costs. But extremist Republicans in Congress are laser focused on destroying the rights and freedoms we value most, attacking our immigrant and trans neighbors, and cutting critical programs for seniors like Social Security and Medicare.

Meanwhile, Rhode Islanders are watching their bills go up and up. My wife and I feel the squeeze of daycare, health insurance, the price of diapers and groceries, and our utility bills. Someone is benefiting from these increased prices. In fact, corporate profits right now are at historic highs – because politicians in Washington won’t pass policies to protect us from price gouging, or a windfall profits tax on the industries that are taking advantage of our pain, or laws like Congressman Cicilline advocated for to combat monopolies.

For many years I’ve been working to tackle problems like these. I’ve stood up for ambitious solutions like Medicare for All and a Green New Deal. I’ve won concrete policy changes like paid sick days, higher wages, new clean energy programs, and criminal justice reforms. And I’ve worked hard to help elect new voices to our state and local governments, hustling to help dozens of first-time candidates raise money and launch their campaigns, and knocking on thousands of doors.

We can’t solve the problems we face – lack of housing, gun violence, abortion bans, attacks on unions, the climate crisis, and so much more – by simply electing one more Democratic vote. We need more leaders in Congress – like David Cicilline – who can organize, bring people together, and have a record of winning real progressive change. That’s what’s at stake in this race. That’s the work I’ve been doing in Rhode Island for years. And that’s the work I’d do in Congress, with your support.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I know politics in Washington can feel dispiriting or downright scary. We can, and must, change that. That’s why I am working hard to earn your vote in the Democratic Primary on September 5th, and why I hope this letter can start a conversation with you.

If you have questions or ideas you’d like to share, please feel free to send me an email at aaron@aaronregunberg.com or call me any time at 401-552-4089. You can also visit our website at www.aaronregunberg.com to learn more or to follow our campaign.

We’ve got a lot of work ahead to win a future that works for everyone. I’m excited and honored to fight alongside you.

Sincerely,

Aaron Regunberg